My nephew Thomas was deployed to Afghanistan in January of 2009.My nephew Matt was deployed there too but was killed by a roadside IEDon June 1, 2009. Melody and I originally started Treasure Our Troops afterourhabit of sending care packages to our nephews grew into sending care packagesto as many soldiers as we could.

Thomas gave us a basic list of things they liked and we sent as much as wecould. While shopping for duct tape to make sure the packages would besecurely taped I saw this neon pink tape on the rack. Now there are a fewthings you should know about me. I’m the one who gave Thomas’s mother (mysister Chris) and father a gumball machine for a wedding present. I evenfilled it with gumballs. And when Chris and her younger sister Syndygraduated high school I gave them each a box with $20 worth of penniesinside. I really hated having to unroll all those neat rolls of penniesbut it gave them something to do after the graduation party. So as youmight guess the pink tape went right into the basket.

After talking to Melody I decided to go through with the idea of putting astrip of pink tape around each box I sent. Melody purchased neon greenand thus our color scheme was set. So off go the care packages. Thomasand Matt never told me how they really felt when they saw the first boxes. They also never told me what their fellow soldiers had to say about thepink tape. But feel sure there was some discussion about it, until theyopened the boxes. Thomas and Matt would take what they wanted from theboxes and share the rest with their fellow soldiers. When I found outthey were doing that I decided that from that point on each box (or two ifneeded) would contain enough for each soldier to get something. Thus myliving room became a shipping zone.

And they didn’t just get food or drink mixes. They got fabric flowersthat turn in the wind and plastic pink flamingos to put outside theirtents. They got paper race cars to build and race, games, puzzles,crossword puzzles, decks of cards, yoyo’s and America’s favorite 50’s toy,the slinky. Melody and I had decided to send out three separate sets ofboxes per month. One would contain a good meal the boys could enjoy,another would contain items for a snack night and the last would be thebirthday box for whoever was having a birthday that month.

Sgt. Mann had a birthday in May. And birthdays shouldn’t be just spam orbeanie weenies. So we sent a pizza party. We sent individual sizedBoboli crust and pizza sauce. We send a dried cheese that was a mix ofmozzarella and other cheeses, cans of peppers and olives and canned hamsand pepperoni and cans of pineapple. And it wouldn’t be a real birthdayparty without whistles, party plates, napkins and other decorations. Wealso bought an iPod nano and filled it with music, including songs fromthe cd’s produced by To The Fallen Records that are by active dutymilitary members and veterans. Check them out at tothefallenrecords.com. These guys have been there and done that. Their songs show their respectfor those who are serving alongside them or after they retired.

But then the economy went south and we found it more and more difficult tobe able to fill and send boxes. So we are asking for your help. On ourfront page you can find a list of the items the troops need or ask for. If you can’t send a care package write one of them a letter. We cannotrelease their names without their permission but you can address theletter or care package to the following addresses. For the cost of apostage stamp you can make a soldiers day. If you can afford to pleasesend a package, please do so. I can assure you it will be greatlyappreciated. If you’d like to donate money to help build care packages tosend please email us. It takes approximately $30 to $35 to fill and senda box. God Bless all of you who can help and remember a letter is anawesome thing to receive.